AN AGGRESSIVE driver tail-gated other motorists before nearly causing a head-on collision when attempting to overtake, a court heard.

However, Robin Cheek avoided a jail term because of his mental state and the time taken to bring him to justice.

Instead Cheek, 33, was ordered to pay a total of £315 with a £200 fine, a £30 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs on his first appearance before a court - more than a year after his bad driving.

Caroline Abraham, prosecuting at York Magistrates' Court, said a driving instructor filmed Cheek driving very close behind him and flashing his headlights at him as the instructor overtook a line of HGVs on the A64 westbound carriageway on February 10, 2017.

Cheek then cut up another vehicle and made a very late manoeuvre across the carriageway to exit the York Outer Ring Road.

In Bishopthorpe Road, he tried to overtake another vehicle at a very fast speed and had to cut back violently onto the right side of the road to avoid a collision before he lost control and crashed, she said.

She claimed the driving merited district judge Adrian Lower sending the case to York Crown Court where a judge could give Cheek up to two years in jail.

But after defence solicitor Liam Hassan said Cheek was psychotic and that it had taken more than a year to bring him before a court even though he had been arrested at the scene, the district judge declined to commit the case.

“Quite exceptionally, I am going to deal with you by way of a financial penalty,” he told Cheek.

Cheek, of Dale Street, South Bank, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

In addition to the financial penalties, he was banned from driving for two years and ordered to take an extended driving test.

Mr Hassan said the DVLA had already revoked Cheek’s licence because of his mental condition and charges of theft and assaulting a PC, which he had committed on the same day as the dangerous driving, had already been dealt with by the courts.

Miss Abraham had no explanation from either the police or the CPS about why it had taken so long for Cheek to appear in court.